Barbados’ garment industry statistics reveal the virtual destruction of the trade in the course of a generation, according to commerce minister Dwight Sutherland, who recently said the sector that generated significant foreign exchange before the 1990s is now a shadow of what it previously was. From 4,000 workers in 1983, the sector employed 200 in 2017.
In 2017, export earnings from the sector were worth $300,000, which was less than 0.5 per cent of the 1983 figure of $70 million, a Barbados newspaper quoted the minister as saying.Barbados' garment industry statistics reveal the virtual destruction of the trade in the course of a generation, according to commerce minister Dwight Sutherland, who recently said the sector that generated significant foreign exchange before the 1990s is now a shadow of what it previously was. From 4,000 workers in 1983, the sector employed 200 in 2017.#
The Barbadian indicators continue to drop even as the global market for clothing has increased amazingly, Sutherland said addressing the Style Out Loud fashion show, staged by designer Cicely Harewood of CH Needleworks at the Daphne Joseph Hackett Theatre recently.
The minister hoped that with the right approach, the domestic garments sector can turn its misfortune around.
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